Cast Away

A Review by Daniel

In Cast Away, Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks) and Kelly Frears (Helen Hunt) are deeply in love with one another. Chuck Noland is an executive with FedEx and unfortunately he must leave on a business trip a few day before Christmas. The night he leaves, Chuck presents Kelly with a special gift... which turns out to be a wedding ring.

The problem is... Chuck isn't going to be returning home as planned... While in flight, something goes terribly wrong with Chuck's plane. The plane goes out of control and plunges into the ocean. Chuck fights to stay afloat on a raft and eventually falls asleep. Several hours later Chuck finds himself on a seemingly uninhabited island.

Chuck is frantic. He's hundreds of miles of course, has no food or ways of communication, and it appears that he was the only survivor of the plane crash.

I could talk all day about this movie, it's possibly my favorite film of all time, a masterpiece; however I don't want to spoil it for everyone! I will say that Chuck is on the island for quite a long time... he must find ways to survive on the island, a way to tell the date and time, a way to catch food, and build a fire.

This movie is filled with many symbols, which in part is what makes it such a great film. The beginning and ending of the film are fantastic. Several years of planning went into this film, Tom Hanks even helped write some of the story line.

Another interesting factor about the movie is that there is literally no background music! It is very rare for a movie to not have any music playing in the background. However this absence is very powerful, especially when music finally does begin to play...

The cinematography is amazing as well. Just about everything in this movie is amazing. A surveillance camera type technique is used with the cameras once Chuck is on the island. It's a subtle but very powerful effect.

This is one of Tom Hank's best films of all time. Not seeing this film is like not living. It has a great great storyline, with an even deeper underlying meaning.

Rating: 5 Stars
MPAA: PG-13
Movie Length: 2 Hours 23 Minutes
Creation Date: 2000
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Stars: Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt, and Nick Searcy.
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